Time for the update.
Few thoughts I would like to put together first.
I would definitely not recommend anyone going the quarantine route unless coral death is imminent. The casualty rate is enough to make you cry yourself to sleep. So when people ask how it went, I tell them that wiping your *$$ with 80 grit sandpaper is more enjoyable.
I believe the high casualty rate was due mostly in part by the environmental conditions of the QT tank. So anyone who tells you to slap together a 10g tank with the bare basics, clearly has not done a full QT for aefw.
Based on the most recent data which I received from Dr. Rawlinson, my decision to pull the corals and return them was based on the following:
The largest AEFW will starve in an acroless tank in 15 days. That is the max that they have encountered. Newly hatched juveniles will starve in 24 hours. This would indicate that the QT for purposes of starving the DT is only necessary for 16-17 days. Though it wouldn't hurt to go a little longer. So I did (~23 days).
There is not yet a time frame for when the AEFW are sexually mature, though the average time for other flatworm types has been documented at 4-8 weeks. If this stands to be correct for the AEFW, then dipping would only need to be done about every 2 weeks, which Dr. Rawlinson currently believes to be sufficient. That is, considering that the dip was effective at killing all of the AEFW. My dips were done every 3 days. Painful and most likely beyond overkill.
Eggs hatch in 14 days at 80 degrees and 21 days is the maximum they have seen at 77 degrees.
If all of this data proves to be correct, then the QT period may be able to be shortened considerably from what the consensus has shown thus far.
For me, in addition to dipping, I have taken all corals that were questionable and either chopped off all dead areas or thrown the coral away entirely.
During the last dip, corals were dipped at 25% Bayer and 75% tank water. Each coral was fragged of any encrusting and reglued to a brand new plug (or in my case disc). Every coral was inspected using 4x, 10x, and 60x magnification for about 15-20 mins per frag. Enough for me to keep dipping them during the inspection process. Then each coral was scrubbed with a toothbrush entirely, rinsed again, and basted.
Corals were cut using a dremel and diamond blade. Questionable corals that were large, were scrubbed using a wire brush attachment to the dremel, and scrubbed down to the skeleton. Rocks that had corals encrusted on them or others that were easily removeable were dried out, FW dipped, and returned. Absolutely no chances were taken whatsoever. Even the slightest possibility was removed. And no, they weren't easy decisions to make.
The DT now has 4 wrasses (3 yellow coris and 1 six line) and has been dosed with both Flatworm Stop and K-Balance. The effectiveness of these stands yet to be determined, but the extra measure didn't seem to hurt.
The corals were severly browned out and many had RTN'ed in the QT. But many of the browned out corals are gaining color back very rapidly. PE is the best I've seen yet.
I have been closely monitoring over the past 10 days for new AEFW and have seen no sign of them. Even by removing each piece and inspecting them under high magnification. There are definitely no signs of any eggs, and during basting, nothing has come off, nor have the fish gone into a feeding frenzy such as before.
I will closely monitor going forward, regularly and keep you guys posted if anything pops up. But so far coral is regaining much of its tissue, color, and beginning to encrust again.
Some of the corals lost included:
RR Wolverine
JKR Rainbow
RMF Gila Monster
Hawkins Colony
RMF Flavor Parade
RR Wolverine
RR Orange Passion
JF Unknown
Garf Bonsai Colony
RP Aussie Pink Fusion Milli Colony
RP Rogue Spathulata
Teal Acro Colony
Most of Joe the Coral
ORA Pearlberry
Red Dragon
Blue/Green Efflo
Fu Man Chu
Tri COlor Granulosa
Yellow Tipped Tri Color COlony
Yellow Polyped Green Acro
Tri Color Colony
ORA Rose Milli
Cali Tort
Swirly was nice enough to help me recover some of my corals so a huge thanks to him.
If anyone else has any of these, let me know. I'm not looking for handouts, but I am willing to pay a fair price.
See photos below. (excuse quality. they were taken quickly and with a cell phone)
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